Need advice on cart battery charging?

dellscart

I have been having problems with charging my cart. It cycles all the way thru, but when I run the cart my drive time has been getting less then last year. It used to run fine for about an hour, now it seems to be drained after 30 min or so. I have load tested the batteries....48 volt G19 by the way....they test at 8.2 and with a load they drop to 8 volts. The people at the campground said that was acceptable and proves its not a battery issue.
Shoud mention this 2 years ago my charger would always go to abnormal charge and the batterys seemed to be overcharging on two occasions the batterys were bubbling more then usual and leaked acid all over. It still ran better then now...so I replaced the main charger board, and the abnormal problem went away, and chrging was good for the rest of the season untill now....any ideas?

Full charge pack reads 8.2 on all batteries
Stock motor and controller
48 volt
lifted with 12 inch rims

BGW

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smallblock450sl

Without a "download machine" it is very hard to really check the battery set. Yes a hydrometer can find bad cells or inconsistant cells per battery. An automotive battery load tester will not help you unless you have an extremly bad battery, maybe even shorted. Something you can try, jack up the rear of the cart, with a volt meter on the battery set, push on the accelerator and start to apply the brake ( giving a "load" situation). If voltage starts to drop, do the same thing to each individual battery to find one or more dropping voltage. This can actually make the cumputer shut down when the volts drops to far and cut down your run time. Hope this helped alittle.

dellscart

I do notice when charged if I go up a very steep hill, my analog volt guage will drop into the red untill I crest the hill, is that normal?

rib33024

You say at a full charge the battery is 8.2 look at the chart and you will see that 8.2 is only 60 / 65% Thats why your run time is low--

rabbitreborn

ok, I'll ask what noone else has.... How old are the batteries in question?

scottyb

8 years ...... why do you ask ?


On a serious note ~ Voltage meter going into the red while going uphill after a full charge .... this indicates a battery issue... dropping out under load. I would further investigate the batteries with a load test as Dave suggests and maybe a SG test to help double check any non-productive cells.......

Mayfair

Are those volt gauges ( I call them gas gauges .. lol ) really that good?

I was tossing the idea around about installing one, but I was told to charge my cart after every use so i didn't think it was necessary, but after reading above where the op could see the gauge drop I can see how that would be helpful info.

rabbitreborn

A voltage gauge on an electric cart is almost a MUST. that is your first indicator that you are needing to recharge on a long ride, or that you have a possible problem on a daily driven cart.

Mayfair

Didn't realize they were that important. This is the one that i was talking about. Is this the one that you recommend?

This:

dellscart

Update:
I Checked all batteries after charge, and two were only at 8.2 volts, rest at 8.4. I then charged the two that were low about 30 min with 12 volt charger. They then came up to 8.4 volts. Ran cart, ran really well. Maybe I have a charger problem? Also should you charge in tow mode or does that not matter? Do you charge after every use no matter how long or short the ride is?
Thanks